Software product management

Product process: Identify

BITS Pilani opportunity Viswanathan Hariharan
Contents

• Overview of product process

• Identifying opportunity
Overview of product process

• Identify opportunity
• Assess the opportunity
• Create business plan
• Specify product features
• Specify Minimum Viable Product (MVP) feature set
• Test your MVP
• Iterate & Pivot to improve product-market fit
Build-Measure-Learn cycle

Customer Agile
interviews Continuous
Root cause analysis integration
Minimize total time
through the loop

• # Visits, conversion, retention

• How many use new feature?
Identify opportunity

• Identify underserved customer needs (LPP)

• Sources of innovation (Peter Drucker)
• Hack days (Inspired)
• Ideation techniques (Cooper & Edgett) (SPM book)

• Case study: DBS Bank

• Case study: Innovation ideas from ID Foods - Mustafa
Identifying underserved needs
• Observe
• Experience
• Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid – CK Prahlad
• Desire to do social good can find new opportunities
Observe
• Toyota Sienna
– The car was successful in Japan
– Toyota wanted to understand the specific needs of US market
– A senior manager spent several months driving 70,000 miles across
length & breadth of US observing how people use cars
– In US children sit in the backside of the mini van
– So changes were made to make the back seats more comfortable,
safe, etc.
– When it was launched the car became a big hit
Observe

• Oyo: Economy hotels were not clean, lacked basic amenities, etc.
• Sketch: Observed that Photoshop was not easy to use
• Slack: Collaboration between teams was clumsy
• Spotify: People wanted to listen to music legally when illegal music sharing
sites were banned
Experience

• Ola cabs: Founder was travelling in a cab and cab driver demanded
exorbitant amount to change the destination
• DropBox: Founder kept forgetting to carry files in pen drive
• Tally: Experienced that existing accounting packages had a User interface
that catered to accounts / finance professional. But not to non-finance
folks
Opportunities are in plenty at
the bottom of the Pyramid
• Opportunities are aplenty if look at the right market
• CK Prahlad wrote a book ‘Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid’
• Large business tend to target the middle class and upper middle class
• However there is a huge market at the bottom of the pyramid of society
• They need products but can not afford high price
• If the products are priced right, there is a big opportunity
• Examples:
– Shampoo sachet for Re.1
– Micro credits to rural people to buy a sewing machine, a cow to start
milk business, etc. It was observed that default by rural people is
significantly less compared to urban people because of the fear of o
– Jio, Nirma are other examples of targeting the bottom of the pyramid
Desire to do social good can find
new opportunities
(Social entrepreneurship)
• Grameen Bank: Mohammad Yunus helped poor to stand on their own legs
through micro-businesses
• Aravind Eye Hospitals: Free eye surgery for poor, funded by rich patients,
developing low cost intraocular lenses
• Narayana Hrudalaya: Dr Devi Shetty offeres low-priced heart surgeries by
employing efficient operation procedures, low cost insurance schemes
• Selco: Dr. Harish Hande developed solar lamps to helps silk farmers
harvest mulberry leaves which needs to be done during cooler hours – late
evening or early morining
• Rivigo: Helped truck drivers lead a stigma free life through relay based
truck logistics
• Apna: Developed an app for finding blue collar jobs such as delivery boys
Case study: Qalara

• What was the opportunity identified by Qalara?

• How did Qalara identify the opportunity?
Sources of Innovation: Peter
Drucker

Father of management
&
A Social scientist
Sources of Innovation: Peter
Drucker
Drucker argues that most innovative business ideas come from methodically
analyzing seven areas of opportunity

• Some of which lie within particular companies or industries

• Some of which lie in broader social or demographic trends.

Astute managers will ensure that their organizations maintain a clear focus
on all seven
Sources of innovation: Peter
Drucker
• Unexpected occurrence
• Incongruities (incompatibilities)
• Process needs
• Industry & market changes
• Demographic changes
• Change in perception
• New knowledge
Sources of innovation: Peter
Drucker
• Unexpected occurrence
– IBM developed accounting machines in 1930s. Banks did not have
money to buy. But libraries had money and they bought 100 machines

– Ford Edsel was very carefully designed. But people bought cars for
lifestyle. This resulted in newer models like Mustang
Sources of innovation: Peter
Drucker
• Incongruities (incompatibilities)
– Cataract operation: Cutting eye ligament is difficult. Instead used
enzyme to dissolve ligament
Sources of innovation: Peter
Drucker
• Incongruities (incompatibilities)

– Shipping industry trying to improve speed and fuel efficiency. But

problem was time wasted at ports to load & unload. Adopted
containers used in railroad and trucks
Sources of innovation: Peter
Drucker
• Process needs
– Newspapers needed a faster way to print. This resulted in Linotype
machine
– Those days newspapers did not make much money. So they invented
advertisements and kept the cost to customer low

• Industry & market changes

– Retail industry changes: E-Commerce
– Banking changes: Payment banks
Sources of innovation…

• Demographic changes
– 1970s saw baby bust and education explosion. This led to shortage of
workers. Japan created Robots
– Affluent educated young people wanted a different kind of holiday.
This led to resort business
• Change in perception
– In spite of fall in mortality rates, Americans were concerned about
cancer, heart disease, etc. This led to health mags, gym, healthy foods
• New knowledge
– Computers
– Etc.
Principles of Innovation –
Peter Drucker
• Go out, look, ask, listen, because innovation is conceptual & perceptual
• Keep innovation simple and focused. Else people get confused
• Start small: Example putting the same number of match sticks into a
matchbox (it used to be 50), gave Swedes a world monopoly for half a
century
• Aim at leadership from the beginning, else it is unlikely to be innovative
enough
• Innovation requires knowledge, ingenuity, and, above all else, focus.
Edison worked in electric field only. Citibank did not venture into health
care
• If diligence (careful), persistence, and commitment are lacking, talent,
ingenuity, and knowledge are of no avail. Like in any other endeavour
Identify opportunities…

• Annual Idea generation by Bill Gates

– 2 weeks shut out from world
– Go through ideas submitted by employees
• Hack days (Inspired)
– Hack days – directed and undirected.
– Eg of directed hack day with a theme – reduce customer churn, increase life
time value (Inspired)
Ideation techniques (Cooper &
Edgett)
Case study: DBS

Are you really innovating around customer needs? – HBR

• What is the assumed need & real need of the customer of DBS?
• How did DBS satisfy that need?
Case study: ID Fresh Foods

Innovation ideas from ID Fresh Foods – PC Musthafa

What innovation lessons can we learn from ID Fresh Foods?

• Fresh & preservative free is possible

• Packaging innovation – Vada
• Marketing innovation: Trust shops
Exercise

Consider your current job & company

Think about the unmet / underserved needs of your customers

Give one example of such a need & its compelling value / benefit to
customer.
Appendix